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Ford 5.8L Triton V10?

My dad is looking at a used truck with this motor to tow his camper. Anyone have one? Issues? MPG? MPG while towing? Any other info? Thanks.

"The thing I admire about the rat tail is that it takes commitment. It's not like one day you just decide you want one, you have to grow out that bad boy and you have to repeatedly convince the hairdresser to trust you because it's a great idea."

Had them in the fleet at my prior construction company. They seem ok and had a few more issues here and there. I know a few early model 6.8L V-10's had issues. The later versions supposedly improved. They get bad gas mileage but, that can be relative based upon your purchase price. Around here, used V-10's are probably $5K less than a similar truck with a diesel motor. That's a lot of gas money. Find a SuperDuty with a 5.4L V-8 and drop it another couple thousand. The 5.4's wont win a race up a hill but, the newer ones seem to be reliable.

Honestly, if looking at gassers- I'd get the 8.1L V-8 in a 2003-5ish 3.4ton Chevy. It will burn some oil but, every one we had in our fleet NEVER broke down. Good motor and gassers big blocks aren't popular right now.

We work on several Super Duty trucks with the V10. They are a decent engine, but do have their issues. Once they get miles on them (100k plus) is usually when things start giving issues. We see a lot of spark plugs blowing out of the heads. This can usually be fixed with a heli-coil and new plug and coil. They do give coil on plug issues. Also have a lot of exhaust manifold issues with warping and breaking the manifold to head bolts. Again fixable but not usually cheap ($300-$500). These also give issues with head gaskets and require pulling and planing heads. These trucks are ok on power but no fuel mileage (7-10) pulling. The new diesels are a better choice but a lot more money.

We work on several Super Duty trucks with the V10. They are a decent engine, but do have their issues. Once they get miles on them (100k plus) is usually when things start giving issues. We see a lot of spark plugs blowing out of the heads. This can usually be fixed with a heli-coil and new plug and coil. They do give coil on plug issues. Also have a lot of exhaust manifold issues with warping and breaking the manifold to head bolts. Again fixable but not usually cheap ($300-$500). These also give issues with head gaskets and require pulling and planing heads. These trucks are ok on power but no fuel mileage (7-10) pulling. The new diesels are a better choice but a lot more money.

I know of 2 different V-10's that this happened to, and one of those had some issues with exhaust manifolds giving problems.

My dad is looking at a used truck with this motor to tow his camper. Anyone have one? Issues? MPG? MPG while towing? Any other info? Thanks.

Tell him to look for a 7.3L diesel, mine is a 2001 with 270,000 miles, has never used a quart of oil between oil changes and still gets 16 mpg as it did the day I drove if off the lot brand new. I also have a 2006 6.0L with 170,000 and not sure yet which one I will keep when I buy a new truck sometime in the next 6 months.

I've owned 3 F250's with the 6.8L V10 and have been extremely pleased with all them and especially that engine. The previous 2 had over 300,000 miles when I traded them off and the current one is at 200,000 with zero issues other than using a quart of oil between changes and they do that from day one. I average 13-14 HWY mpg in my current 2001 F250 extended cab 4X4 with an 6" lift and running 35" Nitto Terra Grapplers. Before lift and larger tires I was averaging 17 mgp. Towing 9,000lb trailer my mileage drops to 8-9 mph depends. With lighter loads like a 17' jon boat or 20' bass boat I still manage double digit mph.

If not hauling heavy loads constantly a diesel would be the last thing I'd personally look at. Reason being the engine is an $8,000 option (if buying new), diesel in my area tends to run $0.60+ per gallon more than regular gas, huge repair bills when thing break (common issues is injectors), oil/fuel filter changes are going to run you $150 roughly compared to $40, etc. Even if they got an average of 10 mpg more than a gasser; majority don't drive enough to offset all the added cost of a diesel engine. IMO

You might want to view Ford-trucks forum as you can ton of knowledgeable info on both of those engines and the Powerstroke on there.

I've heard the stories about the spark plugs "shooting through the dashboard", but I have a close friend with a 2001 F350 V10 (dogtruck) with 203,000 mi on it and my 2009 F350 with 131,000 have been trouble free and without glitch. Not sure what he gets MPG, but I get 11.8 with no trailer. While I still prefer a diesel to tow, I cant complain about the power the V10 has.